The First Hour: Crypt of the NecroDancer

The Switch is already home to dozens of Roguelikes and Roguelites, and February 1st added one more: Brace Yourself Games’ Crypt of the NecroDancer. Superficially it resembles Quest of Dungeons, with a single adventurer entering a randomly-generated multi-floor dungeon and fighting their way down to the boss on the bottom level, finding weapons and items to aid them along their way. What makes Crypt of the NecroDancer stand out is it’s also a rhythm/music game. Each floor is accentuated by a pulsing electronic music track, and players must move and act in time to the beat of the music to keep a score multiplier up. Keeping the multiplier up rewards the player with more and better loot, increasing their chances of surviving against the dancing monsters infesting the Crypts. But this is easier said than done, as the beat increases the deeper the player travels, leaving them with less and less time to make smart decisions. You can watch Andrew (@playcritically) play the first hour in the embedded video below.